Obama on Gibbs Pay

President Obama, in a brief telephone interview with the New York Times about the departure of his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said, "He's had a six-year stretch now where basically he's been going 24/7 with relatively modest pay."

The Times doesn't mention it, but Mr. Gibbs's pay is $172,000 a year. Given that his wife is a lawyer, I wouldn't be surprised if the two of them together fall into the ranks of what Mr. Obama more often calls "the wealthiest two percent of Americans," the ones who deserve to have their taxes raised.

It's a classic example of Mr. Obama changing his definitions of "rich" depending on what his agenda is. If he wants to justify an aide leaving to make more money in the private sector, he calls the aide's government salary "relatively modest." If he wants to raise taxes, he calls the families earning the same "relatively modest" sums that the aide makes "the wealthiest two percent of Americans."

To me it's an example of how out of touch President Obama has gotten with ordinary Americans. To most Americans, $172,000 is not "relatively modest pay," but a pretty good salary for a government employee. Maybe it's relatively modest pay compared to what Mr. Gibbs can make monetizing his public service by giving speeches in the private sector, but that calculation is part of the bargain to begin with.